For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as 鈥渞ineanswsaurs鈥� or sarcastic as 鈥渟rkastik.鈥�
The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. 鈥淚 just assumed I was stupid,鈥� she recalled of her early grade school years.
But assistive technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped her keep up with classmates. Last year, Makenzie was named to the National Junior Honor Society. She credits a customized AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that can read for her.
鈥淚 would have just probably given up if I didn鈥檛 have them,鈥� she said.
Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to that come easily to others. Schools everywhere have been wrestling with , but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities.
Getting the latest technology into the hands of students with disabilities is a priority for the U.S. Education Department, which has told schools they whether students need tools like text-to-speech and alternative communication devices. New rules from the Department of Justice also will require schools and other government entities to make apps and to those with disabilities.
There is concern about how to ensure students using it 鈥� including those with disabilities 鈥� are still learning.
Students can use artificial intelligence to summarize jumbled thoughts into an outline, summarize complicated passages, or even translate Shakespeare into common English. And computer-generated voices that can read passages for visually impaired and dyslexic students are becoming less robotic and more natural.
鈥淚鈥檓 seeing that a lot of students are kind of exploring on their own, almost feeling like they鈥檝e found a cheat code in a video game,鈥� said Alexis Reid, an educational therapist in the Boston area who works with students with learning disabilities. But in her view, it is far from : 鈥淲e鈥檙e meeting students where they are.鈥�
Ben Snyder, a 14-year-old freshman from Larchmont, New York, who was recently diagnosed with a learning disability, has been increasingly using AI to help with homework.
鈥淪ometimes in math, my teachers will explain a problem to me, but it just makes absolutely no sense,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o if I plug that problem into AI, it鈥檒l give me multiple different ways of explaining how to do that.鈥�
He likes a program called Question AI. Earlier in the day, he asked the program to help him write an outline for a book report 鈥� a task he completed in 15 minutes that otherwise would have taken him an hour and a half because of his struggles with writing and organization. But he does think using AI to write the whole report crosses a line.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 just cheating,鈥� Ben said.
Schools have been trying to balance the technology鈥檚 benefits against the risk that it will do too much. If a special education plan sets reading growth as a goal, the student needs to improve that skill. AI can鈥檛 do it for them, said Mary Lawson, general counsel at the Council of the Great City Schools.
But the technology can help level the playing field for students with disabilities, said Paul Sanft, director of a Minnesota-based center where families can try out different assistive technology tools and borrow devices.
鈥淭here are definitely going to be people who use some of these tools in nefarious ways. That鈥檚 always going to happen,鈥� Sanft said. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 the biggest concern with people with disabilities, who are just trying to do something that they couldn鈥檛 do before.鈥�
Another risk is that AI will track students into less rigorous courses of study. And, because it is so good at , AI might be able to figure out a student has a disability. Having that disclosed by AI and not the student or their family could create ethical dilemmas, said Luis P茅rez, the disability and digital inclusion lead at the Center for Accessible Technology.
Schools are using the technology to help students who struggle academically, even if they do not qualify for special education services. In Iowa, a new law requires students deemed not proficient 鈥� about a quarter of them 鈥� to get an individualized reading plan. As part of that effort, the state鈥檚 education department spent $3 million on an AI-driven personalized tutoring program. When students struggle, a digital avatar intervenes.
More AI tools are coming soon.
The U.S. National Science Foundation is funding AI research and development. One firm is developing tools to help children with speech and language difficulties. Called the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education, it is headquartered at the University of Buffalo, which did pioneering work on handwriting recognition that helped the U.S. Postal Service save hundreds of millions of dollars by automating processing.
鈥淲e are able to solve the postal application with very high accuracy. When it comes to children鈥檚 handwriting, we fail very badly,鈥� said Venu Govindaraju, the director of the institute. He sees it as an area that needs more work, along with speech-to-text technology, which isn鈥檛 as good at understanding children鈥檚 voices, particularly if there is a speech impediment.
Sorting through the sheer number of programs developed by can be a time-consuming challenge for schools. Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, said the nonprofit launched an effort this fall to make it easier for districts to vet what they are buying and ensure it is accessible.
Makenzie wishes some of the tools were easier to use. Sometimes a feature will inexplicably be turned off, and she will be without it for a week while the tech team investigates. The challenges can be so cumbersome that some students resist the technology entirely.
But Makenzie鈥檚 mother, Nadine Gilkison, who works as a technology integration supervisor at Franklin Township Community School Corporation in Indiana, said she sees more promise than downside.
In September, her district rolled out chatbots to help special education students in high school. She said teachers, who sometimes struggled to provide students the help they needed, became emotional when they heard about the program. Until now, students were reliant on someone to help them, unable to move ahead on their own.
鈥淣ow we don鈥檛 need to wait anymore,鈥� she said.
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Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press
